Read Online Chronicles of a Space Mercenary 3: Vengeance by Ronald Wintrick - Free Book Online

inevitably arrived though she had never shared her reasoning for her ruthlessness when dealing with them. If she held some particular enmity for them or if it was simply an opportunity- as I surmised- to vent her frustrations through murder. I knew very little about her motivations other than what I could see for myself. Despite our years together I still barely understood her. Tanya shared sarcastic comments and that was about all.
    I swung Last Chance in wide curve back around that last asteroid to keep the asteroid itself between the last enemy and ourselves. The marauder was just on the other side of the asteroid and was going to come out the same end we were at nearly the same time.
    “I’m going to roll us past the end of this asteroid.” I told Tanya as I thought about that photon beam and how close that marauder was going to be to us when we both hit open space on the opposite side. “I’ll try to bring it about just as we pass.” I was going to barrel-roll us past the end of the asteroid and simply leave it up to Tanya to get that last-moment lock and light them up. If I timed this correctly Tanya’s cannon would rise into firing position just as Last Chance passed the end of the asteroid while our sudden change in vector hopefully throwing off the alien’s first shot. If it missed its first shot it wouldn’t get a second, or at least that was what I had planned because if I couldn’t make it miss at this close range we were going to mutually destruct. I was not the type who would be happy as long as I took my enemy with me. Tanya just glared at me, probably thinking I was only doing it to make her job harder since she was the one who had brought it to my attention. In a way she was right but mostly I just wanted to live and once again that was in question.
    “Stay sharp back there.” I told Melanie and Janice- they knew who I was talking to and they had scans so knew what was coming.
    “Bring it on.” Melanie said, hoping to at least stripe the enemy before Tanya’s cannon obliterated it. She got more than her wish as the alien ship came around the curve of the asteroid and we passed one another no more than meters distant. There was just the flash of a strange dark ship racing across my screen and then gone. It came firing knowing we were there. Knowing we knew it was coming. Knowing it was flying into sure mutual death but no longer caring. I rolled Last Chance fully as I had planned but didn’t time the difficult maneuver quite correctly and we passed the end of the asteroid before the roll brought Tanya’s cannon around and into play.
    The strange enemy ship had no means of propulsion I could see and was moving much faster than I had anticipated. Though my roll was late bringing Tanya’s gun into play when I underestimated its velocity it did succeed however in throwing off the marauder’s targeting. The strange ship lost its lock and passed right under Melanie without firing. It was little more than a blur as it went under us but Melanie striped it down its entire length- and right across the photon cannon just as they reacquired lock and it fired. The explosion occurred behind us as I quickly accelerated for warp. I’d had my fill of this sector of space.
    “By the way Marc, you don’t keep me around.” Tanya said as Last Chance gained warp and she rose from the gunner’s station to seat herself at the warp-scan imager. “Nor will you ever know my true motivations.”
     
    Chapter 16
     
    “We seem to have eluded our enemies for the moment.” Tanya said three days later when I came on the Bridge again to see if she was still there. She was as I knew she would be, not that I was ever far away, but this visit was different than the last. Tanya’s constant vigilance was beginning to wear into her reserves. Eyes bloodshot and clearly exhausted she still had a surprise in store for me. “Now to the business of finding our Empire!” She added.
    “I’m not so sure that’s a good